U.S. Supreme Court overturns 2023 Alabama map ruling, paving way for redistricting

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday overturned a 2023 ruling blocking the use of a congressional map that courts found racist, potentially paving the way for Alabama to use new district lines this year.

The order from the nation’s highest court in the case, known collectively as Allen v. Milligan, came about a week before the state’s May 19 primary and about a week and a half after the court significantly weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prevents racial discrimination in voting laws, in a case known as Louisiana v. Callais.

The ruling says plaintiffs challenging the Section 2 cards must show that intentional discrimination prevails.

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As is standard practice, the majority did not issue an opinion during Monday’s order.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the order, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, saying there was no reason to reconsider Alabama’s case.

“In addition to considering that Alabama’s 2023 redistricting plan violates [Section] 2, the district court held, in one of three cases before this Court, that Alabama violated the Fourteenth Amendment by intentionally diluting the votes of black voters in Alabama,” Sotomayor wrote. “This constitutional finding of intentional discrimination is independent and not affected by any of the legal issues discussed in Callais.”

The state currently uses a congressional map drawn by a special master appointed by a federal court in 2023, after courts ruled that a congressional map approved by the Alabama Legislature in 2021 discriminated against the state’s Black voters by not giving them a full chance to select their preferred leaders. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling in 2023, after delaying its implementation for more than a year, beyond the 2022 midterm elections.

A new map drawn by Parliament in 2023 was also ruled to be a violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. According to the current map, the 2nd Congressional District, currently represented by U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, has a Black Voting Age Population (BVAP) of approximately 49 percent, while the 7th Congressional District, represented by U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, has a Black Voting Age Population (BVAP) of approximately 50.6 percent.

Section 2 was significantly weakened by the United States Supreme Court in April in Louisiana v. Callais, who said plaintiffs challenging congressional maps must prove intentional discrimination, a much higher bar than the previous standard for showing discriminatory effects.

“The Court’s decision interferes with the ongoing election and calls into question the validity of the votes of thousands of early voters,” said Deuel Ross, litigation director of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), which represented the plaintiffs in the Milligan case. “We will consider all of our options to protect voters’ rights and reinstate the court-ordered map.”

A message seeking comment from Gov. Kay Ivey was left Monday evening. Marshall said the federal courts had “punished” the state for drawing its own maps, but the Supreme Court “vindicated the state’s long-standing position.”

“For too long, unelected federal judges have had more say in Alabama’s elections than Alabama voters. That ended today,” Marshall said in a video posted to social media. “My job in this office was to put the Legislature in the best possible legal position to draw a congressional map that favors the Republicans 7-0.”

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said in a statement Monday that the decision was a “historic victory” for Alabama.

“The May 19 primary elections will proceed as scheduled,” the statement said. “My office will remain in close contact with the governor’s office and the attorney general’s office as this situation continues to develop.”

Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, said in a statement Monday that the court’s decision “cleared the way for Alabama to hold free, open and fair elections using the constitutional maps drawn by the Legislature rather than the unconstitutional maps imposed on the state by activist federal judges.”

“The Supreme Court’s action takes the thumbs off the scales in legislative and congressional elections and allows Republicans to once again have a fair chance to compete,” the statement said.

Republicans control all statewide elected offices; the state’s two U.S. Senate seats; five of its seven seats in the United States House of Representatives; 76 of its 105 seats in the House of Representatives and 27 of its 35 seats in the Senate.

Kim Bailey, president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama, said Monday the decision was “deeply disappointing and creates uncertainty and confusion for voters regarding the 2026 election.”

“We encourage voters not to be disappointed or discouraged,” the statement said. “Your vote matters. Your voice matters. And voter participation will remain one of the most powerful tools we have to shape our future and defend representative democracy.”

“an inextricable and permanent feature of this matter” U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, leaves the lectern after speaking to an Alabama Senate committee May 7, 2026 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. House and Senate committees have introduced two bills that would reschedule primaries if courts allow the state to use congressional maps and laws previously found to be discriminatory. The committee’s votes were preceded by protests from audience members who said the legislature was denying Black Alabamians adequate representation. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

“The Supreme Court has upended our election jurisprudence and done so in a way that seriously and systematically disadvantages Black voters,” said Dev Wakeley, labor policy advocate at Alabama Arise. “The idea that this is a more level playing field or that the safeguards against discrimination that we had until Callais were ready to be lifted is absurd.”

The court sent the case back to a three-judge panel on Tuesday with instructions to reconsider its decision in light of the Callais decision. Using the 2023 map would likely cast doubt on the re-election of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, of the 2nd Congressional District.

Figures released in a statement Monday called the court’s action “an incredibly unfortunate decision” and said conservative judges “literally stepped in to be the defense attorneys for the state of Alabama.”

“I ran for this seat to be a voice for all of Alabama, and I am not backing down on that mission now,” the statement said. “The fight must continue and will continue. Beyond the courts, we know what must be done. We will organize, we will register, and we will bring record numbers of people to the polls.”

Sotomayor noted that the Callais court said its decision in Allen v. Milligan – upholding a finding of racial discrimination in Congressional maps – remained “good law.”

“This Court’s conclusion that vote dilution is racist and discriminatory is an inextricable and abiding feature of this case, and Alabama’s deliberate decision to respond by enhancing rather than remedying that dilution is, as the district court rightly recognized, evidence of discriminatory intent,” Sotomayor wrote.

After the session, a group of people raise their fists to protest SB 1, a bill that would allow new primaries for two Montgomery-area senatorial districts if a federal court allows it, at the Alabama Statehouse on May 6, 2026 in Montgomery, Alabama. The Senate passed the bill Wednesday amid flooding in downtown Montgomery. (Andrea Tinker/Alabama Reflector)

The Alabama Legislature last week approved two bills authorizing new primaries to be held in districts that would be affected by the court overturning its previous orders. Lawmakers continued the process despite protests that took place throughout the week and culminated in the removal of one person from the statehouse on the last day of the special session.

Plaintiffs in Milligan’s case filed briefs Monday, arguing the injunction should stand because the corrective map currently in effect does not take race into account.

“The district court has never held that Section 2 required Alabama to adopt a majority-black district or to draw districts based on the race of voters,” the plaintiffs said in their response. “The District Court’s corrective plan is proof positive: it contains no majority-black Second District and it was ‘prepared without regard to race.’

Opponents said primary laws passed by the Legislature last week could be unconstitutional under a 2022 amendment that requires election law changes to be made no later than six months before an election. The date this year was May 3; the extraordinary session began on May 4. Republicans said last week that the amendment applied to general elections, not primaries.

This is breaking news. Updated at 5:58 p.m. with additional background; at 6:11 p.m. with commentary from Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman; at 6:25 p.m. with comments from Secretary of State Wes Allen and documents filed by the plaintiffs in the Milligan case; at 6:48 p.m. with comments from U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile; and at 7:11 p.m. with comments from Attorney General Steve Marshall from a video posted to social media.

Allen v. Milligan Order of May 12, 2026 Independent Journalism for All

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